This story has been updated to show the impaired charge was dropped and replaced by careless driving.
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POWASSAN, — The OPP reports both the driver and passenger involved in a serious collision just after midnight Saturday escaped serious injury but following the police investigation, the driver was charged with impaired driving.
Officers from the North Bay OPP detachment were called to the single motor vehicle collision on Memorial Park Drive in Powassan.
Once on the scene, police report the vehicle had left the roadway and hit a hydro pole before landing upside down in a swamp. Both driver and passenger were able to get themselves out of the vehicle and were seen by paramedics — who took the passenger to the hospital with minor injuries.
The driver, Brady Burke, 22, of North Bay, was arrested at the scene for impaired driving and brought back to the detachment for further testing. That charge was later withdrawn according to Burke, but he was convicted of careless driving and fined.
Burke has been released on an undertaking with a court date of November 3.
The driver's licence was subject to a 90-day Administrative Drivers Licence Suspension and the vehicle was impounded for seven days.
This incident marked the 36th driver charged under the criminal impaired driving laws by the North Bay OPP Detachment in the year 2020.